CAN A family of four make ends meet on $18,800 a year in the US? That's the
question posed (and answered) in an excellent online presentation. Why $18,800?
Because that's defined as the poverty level by the US government. The
presentation was prepared by the Campaign for Human Development, an annual
project of the US Catholic bishops. You can see this powerful primer on poverty
at: www.nccbuscc.org/cchd/povertyusa/tour2.htm. Thanks to Laurel Hirt at the
at the University of Minnesota for sending this to us.
question posed (and answered) in an excellent online presentation. Why $18,800?
Because that's defined as the poverty level by the US government. The
presentation was prepared by the Campaign for Human Development, an annual
project of the US Catholic bishops. You can see this powerful primer on poverty
at: www.nccbuscc.org/cchd/povertyusa/tour2.htm. Thanks to Laurel Hirt at the
at the University of Minnesota for sending this to us.
Posts
11 comments:
I think that it would be next to impossible to raise a family of 4 with that little amount of money. My mom raised me all by herself on that amount of money or even a little less and we never went with out, but there were times when it was pushing it to make ends meet. Maybe there should be more resources, or maybe there are a lot of people out there that do not know of all the resources that they have available to them.
Much of the discussion about government help is focused on the federal level. But a lot of decisions are made at the local and state level. In fact, many programs we now take for granted (TANF and Social Security, for example) have their roots in local and state programs. More recently, some states have stepped in to raise the minimum wage when the federal government did not. Pick a community need (such as health care) and see if you could come up with a plan for the city or state to respond.
In today's day and age, there is no way that a family of four can live on less than $19,000 a year. In my intro to social work class we have actually done an activity where we figured out the amount of money a family of 4 would need to survive with the bare minimum...most of those incomes were between 40-50 thousdand dollars.....so not even 20 thousand dollars a year just does not cut it.
Molly Lapp
I do not think anyone can live on such a small amount. I think it is even more unbelievalbe that min. wage is puts you at less money then 18,800$. linsey
A family of four would have a pretty tough time on that amount. In class we have actually figured this out, and you need alot more than that. The sad part is the fact that the goverment expects families to live on small amounts like that, so they have to pick and choose what they need to live. I think its just sad that people have to choose like that.
Kayla Nelson
I don't think it is possible to live on less than $20,000 a year, even if you leave things out. I do believe that the government needs to do something to help these people
Rachael
I'm sure its possible to live off that, but it would be really hard. You would have to work extremly hard to make it.... they really need to raise min. wage.
Amanda N.fd
I am a family of three, my wife and I struggle with just about 25,000 a year. I feel the government, state, and local programs are out of touch. They seem like they are meant to keep those in poverty in poverty. The aid you do get is not nearly enough. How can you expect to live off the poverty level and afford rent, electricity, water, food, medical care and medical insurance as basic necessities.
George
I dont think a family could live on that amount. The government should do more to help these famlies.
Callie
Powerful primer on poverty
CAN A family of four make ends meet on $18,800 a year in the US? That's the
question posed (and answered) in an excellent online presentation. Why $18,800?
Because that's defined as the poverty level by the US government. The
presentation was prepared by the Campaign for Human Development, an annual
project of the US Catholic bishops. You can see this powerful primer on poverty
at: www.nccbuscc.org/cchd/povertyusa/tour2.htm. Thanks to Laurel Hirt at the
at the University of Minnesota for sending this to us.
According to the October 2007 survey, it is now $19,973 or below for a family of four to be considered to live on a poverty level. After subtracting the average cost a family spends per year on child care, health care, food, housing, utilities, and transportation, it leaves a negative amount of $1,601! So the question is, what does the family leave behind?
Let us see, do they decide to cut costs on hygiene products by not washing their body or hair as often or buy the cheapest products and walk around with oily or flat hair and leave their skin dry or other hygiene unattended. Or, of course, the family could stop paying for health care which later could cause long term illness or debt, but hey, that is later. Moreover, the family could cut their costs on furnishings, cleaning supplies, and clothing by going to garage sales, second hand stores, and passing on hand me downs; however, what does this do to our economy! If over $37,000,000 people in America are living below the poverty level, that is $37,000,000 people not spending money in our economy in which others own businesses or have jobs to live above the poverty to provide products and service to those $37,000,000 who are not able to buy or use them! Or if you figure the average amount in this survey allowed for food the family can spend about $79.60 a week on food which for a family of four is about $20 a person to eat on per week. Therefore, that leaves this family in a position to have to apply for food stamps to supplement that amount to a level that will provide sufficient food for the family. But, does this now put the responsibility back to society to help this family survive and or should it be on the government to raise the minimum wage? Who decides?
Complicated, but let us say that our family does not take a vacation or does not contribute to community activities or travel because of expense for transportation Then how does society as a whole think that the children in this family will grow up and be productive in our society if they have not had a chance to have life experiences equal to others that live above the poverty level. Why should education only be available to those above poverty level which leaves behind approximately 37,000,000 people to struggle with the costs of day to day living and getting shorted on their education? As a whole in society I would gather that educating our youth today is a priority to our future in living in America.
My thought stems back to the saying, “stop and smell the roses.” There are presentations such as the poverty USA study. There are percentages and facts gathered from many studies all over the country so obviously this is not a secret that over $37,000,000 Americans live in poverty! Why do we as a society not react and take action to the studies that are conducted? Why do we have programs already developed that are still in place and are not effective? Why do we as a society sweep the facts under the rug and go on with our everyday lives just as the day before not believing that there is a poverty issue in America? Denial! I believe America lives in “denial” and our country as a whole needs to contend with the fact that over 37,000,000 Americans live in poverty today.
Tammy Ackerman
I think it would be very very difficult to live on an income of 18,000. I personally think it's almost impossible. In class we came up with the average income for a family of four at min. is around 45,000-50,000.
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